Practical Guide to SAP

Material Ledger (ML)

Rosana Fonseca

Table of Contents
Preface
1

Introduction to SAP Material Ledger

11

1.1 Overview: What is SAP Material Ledger?

12

1.2 Main functions of SAP Material Ledger and general

concepts of actual product costing

14

Key design definitions and important considerations

when implementing SAP Material Ledger

19

2.1 Driving factors to implement SAP Material Ledger

19

2.2 Choosing the best inventory valuation method for your

company

20

2.3 Material price determination setup

22

2.4 Multiple currencies

23

2.5 Price differences

25

Configuration for activating SAP Material Ledger and

actual costing

29

3.1 Activation of valuation areas for SAP Material Ledger

29

3.2 Assign currency types to SAP Material Ledger type

32

3.3 Currency and valuation profile definition

33

3.4 Assignment of currency type and valuation view of a

valuation profile definition

34

3.5 Assignment of currency and valuation profile to

controlling area

35

3.6 Create version for group valuation

35

3.7 Assign SAP Material Ledger types to a valuation area

37

3.8 Multiple valuation approaches activation

37

3.9 Maintain number ranges for material ledger documents

38

3.10 Configure dynamic price changes

42

3.11 Material price update

43

3.12 Actual costing configuration

48
5

TABLE OF CONTENTS

3.13 SAP Material Ledger as related to automatic account

determination

55

3.14 SAP Material Ledger production start-up

66

3.15 SAP Material Ledger settings in COPA

71

Integrated flow of transactional data into SAP Material

Ledger

79

4.1 Standard cost set-up and cost roll-up process

79

4.2 Purchase of raw material

83

4.3 Manufacturing process using product cost by order

86

4.4 Sales of finished product

89

4.5 Flow of sales data into COPA

90

Month-end closing process

93

5.1 Critical checkpoints throughout the month and during the

month-end closing

93

5.2 Cost center closing process

94

5.3 Production order closing

103

5.4 Periodic actual costing run

114

Actual costs review and reporting

151

6.1 Manufacturing cost center zero balance

151

6.2 CKM3N walkthrough of a finished product analysis

status and actual cost results for a material

152

6.3 Reviewing material master after material ledger close

156

6.4 Reviewing SAP Material Ledger closing document and

general ledger entries

158

6.5 Price difference accounts after materials ledger closing

161

6.6 Material price analysis (CKM3N) integrated view

164

Periodic valuation in COPA

173

SAP Material Ledger reporting

181

8.1 Material list with price and inventory values

181

8.2 Other useful material ledger reports

183

8.3 Material ledger document reports

184

8.4 Drilldown reporting

184

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of main SAP Material Ledger tables

10 Overview of advanced and newest SAP Material Ledger

functions

187

189

10.1 Manual change of actual cost component splits

189

10.2 Distribution of usage differences (DUV)

190

10.3 Alternative valution run (AVR)

190

10.4 Business functions (enhancement packages 5 and 6)

192

A The Author

198

B Index

199

C Disclaimer

202

2 Key design definitions and important

considerations when implementing
SAP Material Ledger
This chapter dives into discussing the main functions of SAP Material Ledger and how they relate and integrate with finance (FI) and
logistic modules such as: MM, PP, and SD. It also covers key design
definitions required for a sustainable SAP Material Ledger solution.
This chapter will cover the main prerequisites and set the stage for the
next chapter, which deals with configuring SAP Material Ledger with a
focus on a long-term solution.

2.1

Driving factors to implement SAP Material Ledger

In todays competitive business environment, companies demand higher

productivity and better cost control to cope with market changes and
constant competitive pressure. It is essential that companies have the
appropriate tools to make decisions more readily.
Actual costing with SAP Material Ledger allows organizations to compare
variances between their standards (best estimates) and their actual
costs.
Actual costing provides visibility of up-to-date costs on a monthly basis,
offering the company accurate information in up to three currencies and
valuation views, which works very well, especially in companies with
worldwide operations.
If your product prices are constantly fluctuating or if the region where
your company is located is going through high inflation rates, then SAP
Material Ledger can also be useful to address continuous variances to
standards by providing current costs for decision-making.
Moreover, if your company is a manufacturing company which runs SAP,
then SAP Material Ledger is the right tool for you to manage your costs.
SAP Material Ledger is part of standard out-of-the-box SAP which is

19

KEY DESIGN DEFINITIONS AND IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS IMPLEMENTING SAP MM

available for all clients. You just need to configure and activate it according to your business requirements.

2.2

Choosing the best inventory valuation method for your

company

Price control indicates the valuation method of a material in a specific

plant. There are two types of price control indicators: Standard price (S)
and moving average price (V). The price control is assigned to a material
in the accounting 1 view of the material master.
Standard cost is an estimated cost, which is fixed for a period of
time according to the companys definition. Generally, it follows
the budget cycle of the company and is determined based on a
target of what the expected unit cost of a product is to be, but it
can also be changed more often based on internal decisions.
Standard price and standard cost terminologies are used interchangeably in this book and is also common in companies that
run SAP.
Moving average price (MAP) is a weighted average cost that
changes according to each goods receipt and/or invoice receipt
(if invoice differs from purchase price).
Although moving average price reflects the most up-to-date data, it can
cause other valuation problems when there is a stock shortage or the
stock level is too low for the price difference to be posted, which can lead
to unrealistic price as the remaining inventory is adjusted with the total
invoice price difference.
Whenever there is a stock shortage, the system cannot allocate the variance (which can be positive or negative), and it remains on the purchase
price difference account in the G/L as the system cannot allocate it to the
inventory.
When working with moving average price, the timing on which the transaction occurs is critical. For an adequate valuation of the transaction at
actual cost, there is a high dependency on the time at which the goods
receipt and invoice receipt are posted and a material is issued from inventory.

20

KEY DESIGN DEFINITIONS AND IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS IMPLEMENTING SAP MM

The same principle applies for variances related to a settlement of a

manufacturing order.
As mentioned earlier, when using SAP Material Ledger, materials with
standard price control will be adjusted to an actual weighted moving average price at month end, which becomes your periodic unit price (PUP).
PUP is discussed in detail during the actual costing closing in Section
5.4.
In an SAP Material Ledger environment, typically all raw materials, semifinished products, or packaging materials used in a multilevel production
structure, such as materials used in a manufacturing process (components of a Bill of Materials) are set as standard price (price control S).
Maintenance, repairs, and operations (MRO) materials are set as moving
average price (price control V) as they are not used in a manufacturing
process and therefore not relevant for standard cost valuation.
These definitions and related settings are extremely important to prevent
over/under absorption balances on cost centers after the month-end
closing. As you will see in Section 5.4, SAP Material Ledger revalues the
consumption of materials at month end when there is a price difference
to be allocated. Revaluation of consumption is done using the original
cost element or an alternate account, as you will see in the configuration
Section 3.11.1.
Below is an example of the impact of a material with standard price control and price determination 3 being consumed to a manufacturing cost
center.

Revaluation of material with standard price control

consumed to a non-manufacturing cost object.
Lets say you set a raw material with a standard price
and then it gets consumed to a manufacturing cost center during the month. At month end, when actual costs
are calculated and posted during the SAP Material Ledger post-closing step, the cost center will receive an
additional amount related to the price difference apportionment. And
the cost center that had already been completely absorbed will now
have an under/over absorption balance, which requires a manual
journal entry to clear out the cost center.

21

KEY DESIGN DEFINITIONS AND IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS IMPLEMENTING SAP MM

If you are using, or intend to implement SAP Material Ledger, make sure
you have the right price control design in place and try not to include
materials with standard price consumed to a cost center or to a nonmanufacturing cost object to avoid rework at month end. Materials with a
standard price should always be used in a production process along with
an appropriate cost object such as production order, process order, sales
order stock, etc., so that all price differences and revaluations of consumption are fully absorbed automatically by the system, preventing any
additional manual clearing process.

2.3

Material price determination setup

The material price determination indicates how the valuation of a material

should occur after each business transaction for a material relevant for
valuation. If SAP Material Ledger is active, this field has to be set up in
the material master using an appropriate combination of price control and
material price determination.
If SAP Material Ledger is activated for a valuation area, the accounting 1
view looks slightly different than the regular screen without a material
ledger. Additional fields become available when using SAP Material
Ledger or split valuation.
The following two price indicator options are available in the material
master (accounting 1 view) for price determination. Accounting 1 view
contains current valuation data of a material.
Transaction-based (2)
If you select this option, you can keep your inventory price control indicator as V (moving average) or S (standard price). If the material has price
control S, the moving average is calculated for information purposes
only, it is not used for valuation as the price control is standard. Materials
with the transaction-based indicator option are not considered later in a
multilevel actual costing.
Single/Multilevel (3)
If you choose this option, the price control has to be S (standard price). A
moving average (period unit price) is calculated at month end. Single/Multilevel price determination allows you to calculate single and multi22

KEY DESIGN DEFINITIONS AND IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS IMPLEMENTING SAP MM

level price differences and carry them over through a multiple level manufactured production structure.
An appropriate combination of price control and price determination for a
multilevel actual costing is shown in Table 2.1.

Price control

Price determination indicator

V (Moving average)

2 (Transaction based)

S (Standard price)

3 (Single/Multilevel)

Table 2.1: Material price determination

2.4

Multiple currencies

Multiple currency definition is a very critical step when designing your

product cost system with SAP Material Ledger. Choosing the appropriate
valuation that meets the needs of the company has to be carefully decided. The multiple currency function is only available if SAP Material Ledger is active. Once the material ledger is configured and activated you
cannot change the settings. So, make sure you have the correct currency
and valuation combination before you activate SAP Material Ledger.
You can manage a maximum of three valuation approaches in two currencies in a parallel valuation. All valuation approaches that you maintain
in the currency and valuation profile must also be managed in SAP Material Ledger. The system checks whether the valuation approaches in
controlling, the material ledger, and financial accounting, as well as the
settings for the company codes, depreciation areas, and plants are consistent with the valuation profile.
In SAP Material Ledger, you can use a combination of currency types
defined in financial accounting and controlling.
As mentioned earlier, the combination of currency and valuation is called
as a multiple valuation approach. The SAP recommendation is to use the
group currency as the controlling area currency to ensure compatibility of
information throughout the materials management, financial accounting,
and controlling components.
For illustration purposes, a couple of examples of currency type and valuation combination setup are shown below. See Figure 2.1 for an exam23

INDEX

B Index
A
Account grouping 57
Activation of valuation area of
Material Ledger 29
Activity type price report 102
Actual activity price calculation 99
Actual BOM (Multilevel quantity
structure report) 167
Actual cost component split
concept. 17
Actual cost splitting for cost
centers 96
Actual costing closing steps 93
Actual costing configuration 48
Actual Costing with Material
Ledger key considerations 19
Actual weighted average 14
Advanced Material Ledger
functions 189
Alternative valuation run 190
Assignment of currency types to
Material Ledger type 32

B
Business function Parallel
Valuation FIN_CO_COGM 193
Business function Stock in transit
LOG_MM_SIT 195
Business functions 192
Business transaction 38

C
Checking material ledger relevant
settings 67
Configuration of Material Ledger
29

Controlling level 51
Controlling Module (CO) 12
Cost Center allocations 95
Cost center report 151
Cost Component Split report 164
Cost splitting structure 98
Costing key 73
Cross-company code actual
costing functionality 195
Currency and valuation profile
configuration 33

D
Display of WIP for Actual Costs
169
Distribution of inventory
differences 190
Dynamic Price changes 42

E
Exchange rate at Settlement of
production order 16
Exchange rate at time of marking
a standard cost: 16
Exchange rate on Invoice receipt
postings 16

F
Flow of sales data into COPA 90

H
Historical exchange rates 16

I
Inventory valuation method 20

199

INDEX

M
Manufacturing process example
86
Material Ledger Automatic account
determination 55
Material Ledger closing document
and general ledger entries 158
Material Ledger data collection 17
Material ledger document 38
Material ledger document reports
184
Material Ledger drilldown reporting
tool 184
Material ledger information system
181
Material Ledger Production Startup
66
Material Ledger settings in COPA
71
Material Ledger Tables 187
Material master after material
ledger close Accounting 1
view 156
Material movement 56
Material price analysis of a
finished product in CKM3N 152
Material price determination 22
Material Price Update 43
assign the movement type groups
45
movement type groups 44
Revaluation of consumption 44

Material Price Update

Material update structure 47

Material Price Update

Assign material update structure
to valuation area 48

Multilevel price determination 130

Multiple currency 23
Multiple currency valuation 15
Group Valuation 15

200

Local Currency 15
Profit Center 15

Multiple valuation approach

activation 37

O
Operating concern 75
Order balances and variances
report 113
Other useful material ledger
reports 183
Over/under absorption balances
21

P
Periodic Actual costing closing
cockpit 114
Periodic Unit Price (PUP). 14
Periodic Valuation in COPA 173
Post Closing 146
Preliminary valuation 16
Price control 20
Moving Average Price (V) 20
Standard Price (S) 20

Price difference accounts

reconciliation 161
Price differences 14
Debit and Credit entries 26
Exchange rate differences 25
Initial entry of stock balances 26
Manufacturing variances 25
Purchase price variance 25
Stock transfer variances 26

Price indicator 22
Single-/Multilevel (3) 22
Transaction-Based (2) 22

Procurement alternatives 17
Product costing 13
Production order closing 103
Work in process (WIP) calculation
103

INDEX

Production Order settlement 109

Purchase of a raw material with a
purchase price variance
scenario 83

Revaluation of consumption 134

Valuation approach 15
Valuation class 55
Valuation grouping code 56
Valuation strategy 72
Valuation view 34
Value Flow Monitor 142
Variance calculation 106
Variance category 106
Version for Group Valuation 35

S
Sales process example 89
Selection step 117
Sequence determination 122
Single-level Material Price
Determination 124
Standard cost 11, 13
Standard cost calculation 80
Standard cost roll up 80

Transaction currency 16
Transaction key 56
Translation procedure 16

W
WIP revaluation 54, 138

201